rovana’s story begins in 1924 when the Gröflin brothers founded Hans Gröflin SA, a watch assembly line in the small town of Tenniken, Basel. Initially, the company’s business was focused on assembling mechanical movements for third-party brands.

The company’s fortunes changed in 1970 when the brothers sold the business to entrepreneur Werner Bitterli. His son, Christopher Bitterli, is the current owner and CEO of Grovana. “The Gröflin brothers had no descendants interested in taking over the business, so they sold it to my father,” he explains. “His vision was different – he wanted to do more than just assemble movements for others. He started by renaming the company Grovana Watch Co. Ltd. Then he focused on producing and marketing watches under that name.”

The Grovana collection, in 1975 in Europa Star

©Archives Europa Star

The quartz crisis hit the Swiss watch industry soon after. While some brands decided to stick with mechanical watches, Grovana’s new owner embraced quartz technology, seeing exciting opportunities in this market segment. The first quartz collections launched in 1980 and were immediately successful. “The popularity of our quartz offerings really launched the company and opened new markets, particularly in Eastern Europe – Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary and even Russia,” notes Christopher Bitterli.

The centenary commemorative model in the Airborne collection

Since then, the brand’s factory has continued to expand. In 1985 a new reception area and offices were added. In 2000, a new watch component storage facility and a shipping department were set up. In 2003, a second floor was built over the existing production facilities. Today, the company employs 25 people in Tenniken and five more in southern Switzerland for quartz watch assembly. In 2000, the firm also signed a licensing agreement to produce and distribute Revue Thommen watches worldwide.

Grovana operates in a challenging segment of the Swiss watch industry. Since 2000, the market for watches with a wholesale price of CHF 500 or less (under CHF 1,500 retail) has fallen from 87.5% of Swiss wristwatch export volume (nearly 26 million watches) to 68.1% in 2023, with total export volume shrinking to just over 11 million watches last year. In short, volumes have dropped by more than half.

The same is true for value: this segment was worth over 2 billion francs in 2000, compared to less than 1.5 billion last year. Yet Grovana continues to operate in this niche and seems to be holding up well, celebrating its centenary at a time when the Swiss watch industry is focusing on luxury watches. What’s their secret?

Christopher Bitterli, owner and CEO of Grovana

The CEO shares his view, and what he sees as their key advantages in this price range: “Grovana produces high-quality watches in solid 316L stainless steel with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, offering excellent value for money. We also benefit from very strong relationships with our partners, often spanning over 30 years. Importantly, we stock spare parts for all our collections for up to 20 years, enabling us to provide excellent after-sales service. We’re extremely responsive, which both our partners and customers really appreciate.”

The use of proven movements – Ronda for quartz, Sellita or Soprod for automatic – clearly contributes to production quality. But it’s the combination of long-term partnerships, efficiency and responsiveness in a highly competitive price segment that seems to make the difference.

Europa Star marked Grovana’s 65th anniversary in 1989. The company celebrates its centenary in 2024.

©Archives Europa Star

To mark its centenary, Grovana is launching a limited edition of its Airborne collection. The Airborne II will feature an exclusive Newton automatic movement by Soprod. The limited edition of 100 pilot’s watches will have a stainless steel case and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. The automatic movement, with Côtes de Genève decoration, bears a specially designed centenary coat of arms.

Later this year, in autumn, the Airborne collection will expand to include a quartz chronograph version, available with various coloured straps and a metal bracelet. A sports chronograph for men and women will also be added to the centenary editions. For the Christmas period, a selection of diamond-set models will complete the collection.

The turning point for the brand came with its decisive adoption of analogue quartz, which remains its core business to this day (1980 archive, the heart of the “quartz crisis”).

©Archives Europa Star

With more new brands entering the market in recent years offering mechanical watches priced between CHF 1,000 and 2,000, is Grovana tempted to expand its mechanical range, given that it currently produces 90% quartz watches?

Christopher Bitterli points out, “Over the last five years, demand for our mechanical lines has increased, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. Grovana has responded by expanding our range of mechanical watches accordingly. Overall, our aim is to continue providing our customers with good quality products at very reasonable prices. That’s how we do things.”

Simple but effective... and above all consistent.

©Archives Europa Star